Portable foot-support



(No Model.) L 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

S. J. ADAMS. v PORTABLE FOOT SUPPORT.

Patented Mar. 8

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

S. J. ADAMS. PORTABLE FOOT SUPPORT.

No. 600,395. Patented Mar. 8,1898.

5 lllllllilllulllllllll llllm lhvrrnn STATES ATEN'I FFICE.

STEPHEN JARVIS ADAMS, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

PO RTABLE FOOT-S U PPORT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 600,395, dated March 8, 1898.

Application filed October 30, 1896. Serial No.6lO,597. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN JARVIS ADAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable Foot-Supports; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to a portable and detachable foot-support for surgical operations, and is particularly adaptable for use in gynecological operations. In operations of this nature it is of the greatest importance to have a simple and efficient apparatus that may be readily secured to a bed, table, or other suitable support-an apparatus free from all parts liable to slip or get out of order. It is also quite necessary that an apparatus of this class should be constructed in such a manner that it can be easily carried by the physician or surgeon. It should be a compact, light, portable, detachable, simple, practical, and cheap device.

I am aware that devices aimed to accomplish the same results my invention will accomplish have heretofore been employed in connection with surgical chairs and in combination with surgical operating-tables; but these devices have many objectionable fea tures-such as springs, slides, catches, and universal movements.

The object of my invention is to provide a foot-support that will obviate the serious defects of the present style of foot-supports and at the same time provide an apparatus that may be quickly attached to and detached from a suitable support-a device that can be compactly put together for the purpose of conveniently carrying it in the pocket or with other instruments in a medical bag. Having these ends in view, my invention consists, in general terms, of a portable detachable footsupport having two essential parts-namely, a clamp provided with one or more sockets conveniently located in said clamp and a stirrup-stem and stirrup, all as more fully hereinafter described.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view showing my invention attached to a horizontal support; Fig. 2, a side view showing attachment to a vertical support; Fig. 8, a side view showing device in portable form; Fig. 4:, a plan view showing two supports placed together for the purpose of conveniently carrying them; Fig. 5, a side view of a modified form of clamp; Figs. 6, 7, and 8, detailed views of socket and stirrup-stem and connection of said parts.

Referring to the drawings, a is an openjawed clamp made of aluminium or other suitable material. As aluminium combines strength with lightness, I prefer its use in the construction of my apparatus; but other metals may be advantageously employed in its construction. The clamp a may be of any suitable size and shape and is provided with a thumb-screw b, by which said clamp is fas tened to either a horizontal or a vertical support, as may be desired. While I have shown a thumb-screw in connection with the clamp, and this is what I usually prefer to use, owing to its simplicity, safety, and cheapness, other suitable form of mechanism for attaching the clamp to its support may be employed. The clamp a at each of its outer corners is provided with sockets c and (1, respectively. These sockets are each partly screw-threaded, the screw-threads beginning at a point near its bottom and running up a certain distance to a point e, from which point to the mouth of the socket the bore is smooth. The sockets c and d are each preferably set at an angle of about forty-five degrees to the plane of the support to which the clamp is applied. I find by actual experience that it is very seldom necessary to have the foot-rest or stirrup set at various angles to the plane of the support to which my device is attached, and hence in the usual construction of my clamp I provide it with only the two sockets, as described,these two sockets giving me the proper angle for the stirrup when it is attached to either a horizontal support or to a vertical support. The clamp may, however, have the two sockets placed in its sides instead of in the outer corners, as above described, and it may be provided with more than two sockets without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I have shown in Fig. 5 a modified form of clamp, showing several sockets similar in construction to the sockets c and d.

55 port, as shown in Fig. 1.

f is a stirrup-stem projecting outwardly from the clamp a and at an angle thereto. It terminates in a stirrup or rest g. The stirrup-stem f at its inner end is threaded for a short distance and is adapted to enter the said sockets c and d and engage with the screw-threads of either the socket c or cl, as the case may be.

It will be noticed that owing to the construction of the sockets c and dthat is to say, with partly a smooth bore and partly a screw-threaded bore, the smooth bore extending downwardly from the mouth of the socket for a certain distance, as to a point e, the screw-threaded bore beginning at this point and the fact that I employ only a few coarse threads on the inner end of the stem f I prosuch as a table.

vide aconnection that may be readily effected, while at the same time it gives greater strength at the point of connection than would be the case if the sockets c and d and the stem f were of the usual all-threaded construction. The diameter of the stem is such that it fits snugly in thelsocket, its screw-threaded end engaging with the screw-threaded portion of the socket and its plain surface fitting the smoothbore portion of the socket.

h is a screw-threaded socket in the inner face of one of the sides of the clamp a. The purpose of this socket is to receive and retain the stirrup-stem when the stirrup or footrest 9 is not being used. I have particularly shown the stirrup-stem placed in socket hin Fig. 3. This figure also shows my device in a collapsed and compact form convenient for carrying.

In the employment of my invention two of the devices or footsupports, as above described, are used. In Fig. 1 I have shown the apparatus attached to a horizontal support, In applying the apparatus to the horizontal support I slide the clamp on the edge of the support and fasten it securely thereto by a thumb-screw or other suitable means. The stirrup-stem f is then screwed into the socket c, not too tightly, but in such a manner as to permit it to turn a little and conform to the natural and comfortable position of the patients foot. In Fig. 2 I have shown my invention applied to a vertical support, such as a side board of a bed. In this case the only difference is that the stirrup-stem is connected to the clamp by means of the socket 01 instead of the socket c, as was the case when the clamp was secured to a horizontal sup- Owing to the location of the sockets in the clamp a I obtain the same angle for the stirrup in both instancesthat is to say, when it is attached to either a horizontal or a vertical support.

The apparatus may be easily removed from the support to which it is fastened, in case a thumb-screw is used for that purpose, by simply unscrewing the thumb-screw andslipping the apparatus free from the table, bed, or other support to which it is attached. When I do not employa thumb-screw for attaching the clamp to its support, I employ some other suitable means that enables me to readily attach and detach the clamp. After the apparatus is free from the clamp-support the stir: rup-stem is then unscrewed and removed from the socket in which it had been used and is then screwed into the socket in the inner face of one of the sides of the clamp. This puts the support in a compact and very convenient form. In Fig. 4 I have shown a pair of sup ports in this form and placed together in a compact and convenient manner for carrying.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A portable surgical foot-support consisting of a clamp, a socket in said clamp, a stirrup-stem and stirrup, said stirrup-stem mounted in said socket, means to hold said stem in said socket and to permit the same to rotate freely therein, substantially as de-.

therein for automatic adjustment to the position of the foot, substantially as described.

3. Aportable surgicalfoot-support,consisting of a clamp having an obliquely-set socket, a stirrup-stem and a stirrup, and means for retaining and automatically adjusting said stem within said socket, substantially as described.

4:. Aportable surgical foot-support consisting of a clamp having an obliquely-set screw- .threaded socket, a screw-threaded stirruppermitted to be automatically adjusted to the position of the foot, substantially as described.

5. A portable foot-support for surgical operations, consisting of a clamp adapted to engage with a horizontal or a vertical support, said clamp having a socket at each of its outer corners, a central socket located in the inner face of one side of the clamp, a stirrup-stem and stirrup, said stirrup-stem mounted in one or the other of said sockets, substantially as described.

6. A portable foot-support for surgical operations, consisting of a clamp, adapted to engage With a horizontal or a vertical support, a partly-screw-threaded socket located in each of the outer corners of said clamp, a central screwethreaded socket in the inner face of one side of the clamp, a stirrup-stem and stirrup,

' said stirrup-stem mounted in one or the other of said sockets, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

STEPHEN JARVIS ADAMS. Witnesses:

JOHN M. PRESCOTT, J r., W. G. DOOLITTLE. 

